Human Rights Day 2021: Here's What You Must Know

The International Human Rights Day is celebrated every year on December 10 to commemorate the adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights by United Nations.

Human Rights are basic in nature, applicable to every human existence. It is to ensure that the state does not take away the fundamental rights of its citizens in the name of punishing as per law.

Human Rights Day: 10 Things To Know:

1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) was adopted in Paris by United Nations General Assembly. It was done in the year 1948. The current headquarter of the Office of Human Rights Commission is at Geneva, Switzerland.

2. The reason for adopting the UDHR was the violation of human rights all over the world post World War II, the massive torture and brutal killings of the Jewish people by Nazis and to instill a sense of order in the countries of the world.

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3. UDHR was accepted without any dissent in the General Assembly of United Nations. Currently, all 192 member states from around the world are a signatory to the Human Rights charter.

4. As per Guinness World Record, the UDHR is the most translated document in the world. Currently as per the record of Office of High Commissioner of UN Human Rights, there are translations in 530 languages available for the document.

5. As the UDHR completes 73 years of being adopted, the theme for year 2021 is : "Equality, Reducing Inequalities, Advancing Human Rights"- much in line with the scenario of post pandemic recovering world.

6. On 10th December every year, the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held in Oslo, Norway to recognise the contribution of day in instilling peace around the world. Besides, the five yearly United Nations Prize in the field of Human Rights is also awarded.

• In 2021 , the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to Maria Ressa of Philippines and Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov of Russia for their work in safeguarding the freedom of expression.

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7. Human Rights is said to have taken in roots some 2500 years back in modern Iraq where the famous King Cyrus provided basic rights to a section of society by freeing the slave and providing them with rights to religious choice.

8.  Recent areas of conflict for human rights violations include countries like Syria, Russia, Venezuela, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, and China. Unites States of America under Donald Trump announced its exit from United Nations Human Rights Commission in 2018, but it regained its seat back under Biden administration

9. Constitution of India is heavily influenced by UDHR. The Fundamental rights provided to the citizens of India has major sections from the Human Rights charter .

• Right to equality and equal protection before law( Article 14), equal opportunities in public service (Article 16), Freedom of speech (Article 19 (1)(a)), Protection in respect for conviction of offences(Article 20),Right to life and personal liberty (Article 21),Right to Education (Article 21A), Right to freedom of conscience and to practice, profess and propagate any religion (Article 25), Right to protection of minority (Article 29), Remedies for violation of Fundamental Rights(Article 32) - all are derived from the UDHR which India is signatory to.

10. National Human Rights Commission was established by India in 1993  as statutory public body to protect the human rights of the citizen. It was enacted under Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.